Broken Glass
by Cleolette
Summary: (1xR) Their marriage is in pieces, but can there still be reconciliation?
1. Prolouge

Broken Glass  
Prologue  
By Cleolette  
  
Pairs: 1xR, more may appear as it goes  
  
Rating: PG-13 for now  
  
Disclaimer: I am making no profit from this work of fiction. Any   
resemblance any character in this story to animated characters  
under copyright is done intentionally, but not maliciously.  
  
Warnings: I'm rusty, please be critical and tell me if you really  
want me to continue this story. If this part sucks, tell me so   
that I can abandon it :)  
  
Note on POV: I'm planning to switch to 3rd person, past tense   
after this prologue, but I felt that a first person, present  
tense would be a good way to introduce the story and detail  
the history behind why things are the way they are.  
  
  
****  
  
He left two years ago today. It made sense for him to leave,  
at the time. It was mutual, I guess, but I really did not ever  
want him to leave. We were at each other's throats, always fighting  
over the same old things, or, even worse, not talking to each  
other for weeks at a time.  
  
I know his reasons, the reasons that neither of us should have  
ever even had to worry with, were the world a fair place to live  
in. That day, the passion of our relationship was dead, and the   
love was forgotten. I know his reasons. He had failed. All his   
previous endeavors ceased to satisfy any of the gaps in his heart.   
He felt confined, useless, lazy, bored. It was how I felt too.  
He would sulk around after work, and often get in the way of my   
own passive suffering. We were two stubborn souls, desperately   
needing and at the same time refusing the comfort that our mutual   
love could have brought.  
  
We began arguing more and more. Our fights escalated from   
talking to shouting. One day his fist stopped inches from my face.  
The flash of pure, violent hatred that filled his eyes in that  
moment terrified me, but even worse was the stricken look that  
followed it. Fear filled his eyes. "We can't go on like this." he  
said. Damn him for being so right. He left that night.  
  
The fights, fueled by layers of bitterness, futility, and grief,  
found their cause on the fate of one person. The doctors, with all  
the cures that modern medicine had to offer, were unable to save  
Angelina Yuy. We had spent over a year of our lives trying to keep  
her alive after the doctors told us of a rare birth defect that  
our daughter had chanced to be born with. To this day I cannot  
remember what they called it, but all it meant was my baby would die   
before she saw her fifth birthday. I tended to the baby with a zeal  
I had not had since my lofty dreams of peace on earth years before.   
He plunged himself into the medical community, searching for a cure   
that didn't exist, searching for a hope where there was none to be  
found.  
  
The doctors told us that she would not live to see adulthood.  
They said her heart was extremely damaged, and hopes for a transplant  
almost nonexistent. We were on a waiting list, but our angel didn't  
last. She lived a year and six months. When she died, so did our marriage.  
For her lifetime, Heero and I had become so accustomed to living  
in our own worlds that we found it difficult to even realize we  
were still somehow together. I rejected him, and in return he   
rejected me. I could no longer rush to get Angelina during a tense  
conversation. News of new treatments would no longer be his excuse to  
cop out of family activities. We had stopped sharing a bed the night  
she died, but we had stopped caring that we did share one long before.  
  
Now, I'm waiting in my favorite coffee shop. When he left, Heero and   
I agreed to meet once a year at this coffee house to catch up, or,   
as I have hoped for quite a while now, to reconcile. I look at my watch;   
I am early. He is never late. Rather, he wasn't last time. I watch the   
door impatiently. I wonder how he is. Last year he had quit his job   
and moved to another colony. Last year he was still cold and impassive.   
Last year, I still hated him. However, time is the great healer, and  
I'm hoping we're both healed.  
  
He strolls in 2 minutes early and does not even so much as  
glance around. His eyes are fixed on the countertop.  
Mechanically, he orders a beverage and, upon receiving it,  
finally looks around. He sees me and, for an instant, looks  
worried. He is worried about something he will tell me. I smile  
gently at him, trying to show that I am not the emotional nutcase  
he left, nor the cold, bitter woman who would not talk to him  
last year. He walks over and sits across from me.  
  
"Hi." I say, quietly and, to my surprise, nervously.  
I inwardly sigh. I've let my guard down; he's under my skin like  
always. And making me nervous. I am Relena. I do not get nervous.  
  
Heero nods in response. He is not going to make this easy on me.  
  
But the glimpse of worry I saw earlier tells me this isn't  
easy for him either. I decide on a neutral subject. Clearing my   
throat, I say, "I got a new cat."  
  
He frowns, "Adolf isn't enough?" I can hear some teasing in  
his voice.  
  
I grin. Adolf is what he has always called our hyperactive cat.  
"Nope, Adolf was lonely. Pining after you, methinks. Poor  
little cat."  
  
He smiles. Actually, it's not really a smile, but it's a Heero  
smile. "What's the new little rat like."  
  
"Oh, sleeps in the dresser drawers, eats at the table  
with the family, the usual."  
  
"Are you still living at the same place?" he asks.  
  
"Nah, I moved somewhere smaller and cheaper."  
  
He looks at me and lowers his voice, "You didn't lose your job,  
did you?"  
  
I sense that same old protectiveness in his voice. Warmth spreads  
through me at this slight bit of affection. Then again, he  
always cared about me well being, even before he loved me. If he ever did.  
I frown and have to fight the tears that threaten this reunion  
that has been happy thus far. I swallow, and speak much more quietly  
than I plan, "No...it's just...too big, you know."  
  
Heero knows. We lived in a palatial apartment with three huge  
bedrooms, a master, a guest, and one done up in pink for her...  
"Yeah, I always thought it was way too big." he mutters.  
  
I quickly change the subject. This will be a good meeting.  
"So what are you doing these days, Heero?"  
  
His expression is unreadable. I sense that this is the part he dreaded.  
"I'm a pilot."  
  
"Pilot? For whom? Delta? Galactix Transports?" I know he's not a commercial  
pilot. Heero would never be a glorified bus driver.  
  
"The MRA." He says with a voice so dead, so remote  
from feeling, that it makes me shudder.  
  
The MRA, the Mankind Renewal Army. The enemy to peace...I  
never thought...I never considered..."The MRA?" I  
squeak.  
  
He looks away and doesn't say a thing. He isn't about to get  
away with this. My first thought is that he's toying with me,  
trying to make me hate him to conform to his ideas that I should  
consider him the scum of the earth and stop caring about him.  
"Why haven't I seen you on TV?" I say, remembering that  
all the MRA's 'aces' are well publicized, and I cannot see why  
Heero, if he for any reason belonged to such a thing, would not  
be the best they had.  
  
"Different name." He mutters, looking into his coffee.  
  
I run through the names I've heard on the news: Jones,  
DeLaCerda, Tanaka... "Tanaka Takeshi." I say, not sure  
what to make of it.  
  
He nods without looking at me.  
  
"But Heero, why would you do something like that?"  
  
"Takeshi is my real name." He says in a pathetic attempt to  
change the subject.  
  
I know I'm not going to get anywhere with why he is destroying  
his life again in another war, so I concentrate on his diversion.  
"I thought you didn't know your real name."  
  
"I remember my first name. Tanaka is just a pretty comon Japanese  
name." Heero shrugs  
  
"Ah, I see."   
  
An uncomfortable silence settles over our conversation. Why did he  
have to go do something so completely bizarre and unreadable? I  
think that ending this now would be the best route, salvaging the   
tiny bits of civilized conversation that we did manage.  
  
"Um, I have to meet with someone in about 20 minutes on the other   
side of town," I say, glancing meaningfully at my watch. I stand.  
  
Heero stands and grabs his coffee. "Yeah, I should get going too."  
he mumbles.  
  
I start to inch away when I hear him behind me, "Let's see each   
other sometime Relena, before next year." he whispers.  
  
I turn to see him extremely close to me. He offers a hug to me,  
and I accept it. After a brief hug, I carefully write out my number  
and address on a piece of paper and hand it to him. "To keep in  
touch." I say  
  
He nods and hands me what appears to be a business card with the   
same information, "To keep in touch."  
  
I smile slightly, "Bye, Heero."  
  
"Bye." He turns and walks towards the door. I frown when he is out  
of sight. Always leaving first, aren't you.  
  
As I turn to the counter to get another cup of coffee, I notice   
something on the seat where Heero was. Picking it up, I see that  
it is a picture of a young boy, no older than 3, sitting with a  
lovely girl who appears to be around 26. The boy bears a remarkable  
resemblance to Heero, right down to the dark sapphire eyes that the  
woman also has. He dropped it here, it must be his.  
  
He isn't anywhere in sight anymore, however, and I pocket the  
picture. I'll get it to him later.  
  
****  
  
TBC 


	2. Life as it remains now

Broken Glass   
Chapter 1 - Life as it remains for now   
By Cleolette 

Author's Notes: Sorry for making ya'll wait so long. I have no muse, just sudden urges to write about a line or two. This one comes at you after being in the notebook a good week. (no, there are no other chapters in the notebook) 

**** _Two Weeks Later_

Relena typed away at her keyboard. She talked as she went, "This case should be no problem, our client has a good chance." 

"Yeah, but you have to be prepared for anything, Rel, even after all this time you are way too optimistic about things," Dorothy snagged a peppermint from the candy dish. 

"I think I'm ready for whatever they throw at me, but if you want to help, you could read over my notes and offer me some advice in return for all that candy you always steal from me." Relena playfully chided and stood, allowing Dorothy to sit at her desk and read over what she had written. 

Dorothy sat and scrolled over the notes. "You don't say that to your clients," She protested. Relena grinned at her partner. 'Who would have thought we'd work so well together,' she mused. 

Relena and Dorothy had founded the private practice after Relena quit her old job at a giant firm. Relena was looking for something more personal and meaningful following her separation from Heero, and Dorothy had just passed her bar exam. Things had come together, and Catalonia & Yuy was born, currently employing 9 people. 

"Clients don't have a habit of eating at least 5 peppermints from my bowl everyday," Relena kidded. In reality, the candy bowl was just Dorothy's excuse to come in and procrastinate. "Anything pop out at you?" 

Relena liked Dorothy's opinion because of the way Dorothy's mind worked. Dorothy won most of her cases because she expected even the most obscure attacks from the opposing lawyer. "After all," she had once said to Relena, "It's how I would beat myself." 

"I don't think you've thoroughly protected your client's DUI in 190." 

"Dorothy! That's over ten years ago!" 

"Dirt is dirt, Relena. Anything that can call into question your client's responsibility and integrity is dangerous. Who's the prosecutor?" 

"Milligan, I think," Relena glanced at the ceiling and bit her finger, "Yeah, Milligan." 

"Oh, the you know you'll win. Even if your client was seen by and eyewitness pulling the trigger, you could prove his innocence agains competition like that." Dorothy waved her hand in the air as she spoke, "This one is already won." 

"Thank you for the confidence. I will try to look into more angles with the DUI. Milligan is somewhat enamored with bringing up traffic offenses." 

"It's not even fun to win against that guy!" Dorothy noticed something protruding from a stack of payroll forms and forgot her rant against incompetent lawyers. "What's this?" 

Dorothy tugged a picture out from underneath the paper. "Oh!" Relena grabbed the picture, "I forgot about this!" 

Dorothy took the picture from Relena's hand, "Let me see it...Who is this? They look so damn happy. Just looking at this, I'd say this was a relative Heero's. Looks just like him, only small and cute and childlike," Dorothy shook her head, "I'm sorry." 

"You know I'm over that," Relena smiled, remembering when the mention of Heero's name had sent her into a fit of crying or one of ranting, "Judging by the age of the picture, I think it might just be Heero." 

"She has the same eyes. This woman must be his mom or something. I know the guy wasn't Asian, with those big blue eyes and-" 

"Don't even say it, Dorothy." Relena's face flushed. 

"God, you're turning red and I haven't said anything." Dorothy grinned malevolently, "I was just going to say that Asian men are-" 

"Please, please, _please_ don't start recounting your sexual conquests from college again." Relena sighed and placed her head in her hands. 

"Actually, it's a well known fact that Asian men are typically smaller." Dorothy continued to grin, enjoying watching Relena turn into a tomato. 

"You do realize that he is millions of miles away and I'm going to be thinking about this all day long." Relena muttered. 

Dorothy looked at Relena, "Tell me truthfully, when was the last time you had sex with a human being?" 

"Just after the baby was born, right before it got bad between us..." Relena squeaked it out, then broke down into giggles, "I'm hopeless, aren't I?" 

"Extremely," Dorothy fell into Relena's office chair with her arms crossed and a somewhat uncharacteristic stunned look on her face. 

"I don't see you with a guy every night." Relena took her turn to smirk, making her own guesses at why. 

"Listen, he's been so busy with business..." Dorothy stopped, realizing she'd just confirmed Relena's suspicions. 

"Business?" Relena took hold of the new information that had been accidentally imparted to her, "I think he's sitting in his office upholding his little empire joylessly, all the while wishing away the days until he sees his love again...naked." Relena took her own turn to grin. 

"About this picture," Dorothy held it up purposefully, "Do you think the woman is alive?" 

"Maybe, Heero never really said anything about his childhood before he lived on the streets." Relena sighed as they dropped the subject of each other's sex lives, "This is probably his only connection to his real family he has." 

"If you knew something like a name or a date or anything, you could find her by going through birth records from the time." 

"His first name is Takeshi..." 

"It's a start." Dorothy set down the picture, "I'll start in what seems to be the best place, births in the L1 cluster from about 179-181." 

"Ok..." Relena stared into the picture, hoping to get clues from it. She slumped into the chair Dorothy had just vacated, trying to clear from her mind the images Dorothy's teasing had brought up. Having no success clearing her mind of the sweating, lusty, beautiful Heero, she decided to e-mail him. She grabbed the business card Heero had given her and set out to write her first correspondence to him. 

"Heero,   
I have found myself thinking about you today. I must confess   
that I miss you terribly. I worry constantly for your safety   
and wish I could see you. However, I understand that you must   
have your reasons for doing what you are doing. Not that I   
have any clue as to what they are, since I am no psychic, and   
if I may add, you have not seen fit to tell me of such. 

How are you? I know that you are fighting. The name "Terror   
Tanaka" fell on my ears again this last week following that   
attack on the Preventer base in L4. It makes me sad to think   
of you killing again. You never liked it at call. 

I should stop now... 

**** 

"...before I start accusing you without knowing your side of   
the coin. If this has offended you and made you hate me, skip   
up and stop after "I understand you have your reasons" and   
forget the rest, 

Love,   
Relena" 

Heero Yuy smirked at the total disunity of Relena's email. The letter had started with a tone not unlike her "Let's have crazy, mind-blowing sex when you get home" messages she used to send him when he was at work. Then, she had plunged into a lecture, one of her favorite pastimes, but usually directed towards the way he didn't dress properly for such and such, or was driving well over the posted speed limit. What she had addressed this time was something much more serious, but he could still hear her in his mind tell him how his tie really didn't go well with his shirt in that overbearing tone he had always found cute. 

The last part was something Heero really couldn't place, since it asked him to disregard the lecture that hadn't offended him in the slightest, only made him aware some correction was necessary. He set out to fix that. 

"Relena,   
I was pleased to receive your letter. I also miss you and   
look forward to seeing you again. My next vacation comes in   
about a month. 

I do not hate you and have no idea why you thought I would.   
Simple to clarify, I have not killed a single person since   
taking on my post here. I hope that brings you comfort. 

My reasons for being here are the one thing I cannot tell you   
now. If I thought this mode of communication were completely   
secure, I might tell you. Do not hate me for it. 

Love,   
Heero" 

"What you up to Takeshi?' Heero's roommate Alex Bordelon plopped onto the nearby bunk in their room. 

"Ordering new socks," Heero continued what he had actually been doing before Relena's email had distracted him. 

"Socks?" Alex was confused. 

"At four credits a pair, how would I say no?" Heero finished his order. 

"Four cred? What are they made of, latex? paper?" Alex popped up behind him. 

"High quality Egyptian cotton grown on WinnerCorp plantations." Heero said, monotone. 

"How the hell are you getting those for four cred a pair?" 

"I have connections." 

A passing officer poked his head into the room, "Is Tanaka talking about his cheap socks again?" 

"Does he talk of them often?" asked Alex, puzzled. A new recruit, Alex had been Heero's roommate for about 5 days. 

"Hell, why do you think I changed roommates? The only thing he would ever talk to me about was the market value of socks! He buys them in bulk and makes a killing selling them at six credits." 

"Six cred is good for Sandrock Socks." 

"Not as good as four. Hey, Tanaka, wake up, lazy ass." 

Alex looked over at Heero, who was leaning back in the chair with his eyes closed. "He always does that." 

The guy shrugged, "It's annoying, isn't it?" 

**** 

Here's hoping chapter two will follow soon, despite my utter lack of idea as to what it will be about. Just so you know, I've got several parts of the story planned out. Specifically what will happen near the end, as well as what will probably end up being the middle. Several more of our favorite characters should be appearing soon. This chapter we got Dorothy, next chapter Quatre may make a cameo in one way or another. Expect all of our boys to show up. (maybe not Milliardo though,) 

But, I ramble. Please review and critic. 

-Cleolette 


End file.
